March 18, 2009

The Library of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Education and Wayne State University today announced the official launch of "MORE in MeL.org" (Michigan Online Resources for Educators at http://more.mel.org). Making its debut this week at the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) 2009 Conference at Cobo Center in Detroit, MORE is a growing Web-based collection of thousands of high-quality, digitally available information resources that gives teachers a significant edge in providing an enhanced educational experience for their students.

Culled from a number of well-known education resources like ThinkFinity (formerly Marco Polo) and the Michigan Teacher Network and selected by library and educational media specialists working in the content area of their teaching certifications, MORE resources include lesson plans, curriculum guides, interactive games and Web sites, career-development guides, parenting information and much more.

"We are very pleased to announce the MORE portal at this year's MACUL conference," said State Librarian Nancy R. Robertson. "MACUL is where Michigan teachers, administrators, librarians and others gather to learn about educational technology and gain the professional development that helps them navigate portals like MORE and better integrate such resources into the classroom."

"It's not a stretch to say that today's educators are asked to do so much more with less - less time, less funding and less of just about everything," said Sandra Yee, dean of University Libraries and the School of Library and Information Science at Wayne State University. "Michigan Online Resources for Educators is a comprehensive teaching tool - available on the Web day or night and completely free of charge - that makes it possible for teachers to get MORE of what they need in order to help our students exceed their educational goals."

Each MORE category includes links to sub-categories that distill the resources down to individual teaching concepts. For example, within the English Language Arts section, users can choose from sub-topics like American Literature, Debate, Expository Writing, Listening Comprehension or Speech, and then dig deeper into lesson plans and creative teaching aids like ABCs of the Writing Process and the Linguistic Lesson Plans Database.

"From the very start, MORE has been a collaboration that draws upon the knowledge and experience of the library, university and school communities," said Robertson. "This is just the beginning! As additional quality resources are evaluated and brought in to the MORE mix, educators will have their choice of a growing, robust set of quality teaching tools. It's one more example of how the Michigan eLibrary (www.MeL.org) is working to meet the changing information needs of Michigan residents."

Helping Michigan educators even further, many of the resources available within MORE are already aligned with the State of Michigan's grade-level content expectations (GLCEs) and high school content expectations (HSCEs), and additional resources are on track for alignment. According to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan, the value of these resources lies in the metadata that includes an alignment to the content expectations down to the most granular part of the statement. This alignment is not done by machines but by Michigan educators working in their content areas. Flanagan applauded the efforts that have made MORE a reality.

"It's a critical part of the job for teachers to ensure their lesson plans and long-term goals for students are right in line with Michigan's standards," he explained. "Because of the research and planning that have gone into the creation of Michigan Online Resources for Educators, teachers can now quickly find what they need, saving time and energy to be more creative in the classroom."

Seeking to keep educators firmly a part of the GLCE and HSCE alignment process, the MORE partners will hold spring and summer alignment workshops and teacher participation is crucial. Teachers and media specialists interested in being a part of this valuable work should contact Barbara Fardell, manager of educational technology in the Department of Education's Office of Grants Coordination & School Support, at fardellb@michigan.gov.

Explore Michigan Online Resources for Educators at http://more.mel.org.

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